Русский язык для сотрудничества России и Африки (2-е изд.). Учебник полезен для африканских и русских студентов. Елена Александровна Тинякова
of Madagascar, he wanted to make a parking port for Russian ships. The first attempts to establish ties with Africa date back to the 18-th century – a letter from Peter I to the «Madagascar king» has been preserved. But this business stopped with the death of the tsar.
Catherine II entered into correspondence with the Moroccan Sultan a few decades later.
For some time, the Russian state was very indifferent to Africa in the 19 century. The state interest was concerned about the tasks of expanding to the East – the Caucasus, Central Asia, Primorye. Travels under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society to Africa began only in the 1870s, and Vasily Junker became one of the pioneers in the discovery of the Black continent. In 1875—1886 he made two long trips to the region of today’s South Sudan and the CAR, which by that time remained a solid white spot on the map of Africa.
In the first two months of 1889, a group of one hundred and fifty Cossacks reached a village in East Africa, which is now called Djibouti (at that time it was known as French Somaliland, and later the French territory of Afar and Issa). Their main goal was to establish a Russian colony called «New Moscow», which would form a springboard to build relations between the Russian Orthodox and the Ethiopian Orthodox Churches.
The most famous Russian African is Pushkin’s great-grandfather, the Arab Abram Hannibal. However, he probably did not originate from Ethiopia, as Pushkin himself believed, but from the Kotoko people, who live to this day on the shores of Lake Chad. This is evidenced, among other things, by linguistic facts.
The lack of Russian political interest in Africa predetermined the purely scientific nature of travel, which in the 19 century also had
a strong artistic and romantic character and goals.
Ethiopia has always been of interest to the Russian Empire. In January 1895, the Russian expedition of Nikolai Leontiev arrived to the oldest independent state of Africa, it began as a research expedition, but turned into a diplomatic matter. As a result of Leontiev’s meeting with Negus Menelik II, it was decided to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries. In January 1896, Leontiev returned to Ethiopia and became Menelik’s military adviser during the Italian-Ethiopian War, during which the colonizers were defeated with the help of Russian weapons, and Ethiopia retained its independence.
Many Russian volunteers fought in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899—1902 on the side of the Boers.
During the second half of the 19th century, Russian consulates were opened in the North African countries controlled by Europeans – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt.
The Russian Empire hoped to enlist the support of the rulers of Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia in the confrontation with the Ottoman Empire. In 1869, diplomatic relations were established with Tunisia, in 1897 – with Morocco, in 1898 – with Ethiopia and the state of the Boer Afrikaners – the Transvaal Republic.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet, which left Sevastopol after the defeat of the «white movement» during the revolution that began in 1917, was evacuated in 1920 to the Tunisian Bizerte.
Russian consulates worked until 1924, and thousands of Russian emigrants scattered through the cities of North Africa, some of whom gained fame in their new homeland.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Russian-African relations practically did not develop; only in 1943 did the Soviet Union manage to establish official relations with Egypt and Ethiopia.
The USSR initiated the adoption the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the UN General Assembly in 1960. As African countries gained independence and developed contacts with the USSR, the Soviet country consistently defended their interests in the UN. In particular, in 1973, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, proposed by the USSR jointly with Guinea.
In total, the USSR concluded agreements on economic and technical cooperation with 37 African countries. On their basis, Soviet specialists participated in the creation of about 600 enterprises and other facilities in Africa, of which more than 300 were put into operation by the end of the 1980s. With the assistance of the USSR, about 500 thousand African specialists and skilled workers were trained.
After the collapse of the USSR and the reorientation of socialist African states towards cooperation with European countries and the United States, Russian-African ties practically did not develop for a long time. However, during this period relations with South Africa were normalized.
The intensification of bilateral contacts with other African states began only in the late 1990s.
The first Russia-Africa Summit in 2019 made it possible to return Russian-African relations to the center of priorities between Moscow and the African continent.
Task: Make up a plan “ Africa in Russian history».
2023 is the year that has become one of the most successful in Russian-African relations in recent decades.
Russia plans to ensure maximum representativeness in Africa.
On July 27—28, 2023, a Summit of African leaders was held with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.(Рис.4).The event was held on the basis of Expoforum. 17 countries were represented at the level of heads of State. Another 10 African states sent prime ministers to the event in St. Petersburg. Almost half of the summit participants sent delegations at a lower level: 17 of them are headed by deputy prime ministers and ministers, and five are just ambassadors.
Within the framework of the business program of the Second Summit and the Economic and Humanitarian Forum, Russia and Africa discussed the goals and tasks facing Russia and African countries in the era of global change. The issues were discussed by representatives of relevant ministries of the Russian Federation, Russian and African businessmen, experts in the field of international relations.
In addition, the Forum participants touched upon the most pressing problems and ways to solve them to stimulate the development of Russian-African relations in the economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres.
Russia is exploring the possibility of expanding its diplomatic presence in Africa; it plans to open embassies in Niger, the Republic of South Sudan and Sierra Leone.
В каких странах Африки используется английский язык (Рис.6):
Нигерия;
Эфиопия;
Южная Африка;
Танзания;
Кения;
Судан;
Уганда;
Гана;
Камерун;
Малави;
Замбия;
Зимбабве;
Ботсвана.
Which African countries use English:
Nigeria;
Ethiopia;
South Africa;
Tanzania;
Kenya;
Sudan;
Uganda;
Ghana;
Cameroon;
Malawi;
Zambia;
Zimbabwe;
Botswana.
Task: tell orally and in written form about one of the African countries.